A Short Comparison of Fly Ash Bricks and Clay Bricks
There is a new type of brick called fly ash brick trending not only in Pakistan but it's worldwide usability increasing day by day, particularly in the construction of houses as an alternative of red bricks. Mostly everyone prefers red bricks to use while building their new home for many years. But people are now well aware of new emerging technologies which are being used in producing such building materials. Fly ash bricks are one of them.
In this article, we will mention the short comparison of fly ash bricks and red bricks or clay bricks.
What is Fly Ash?
The ash collected after the coal combust in our factories and industries is called fly ash. Class F and Class C are classified as types of fly ash due to the different percentages of calcium oxide present in fly ash. Class F fly ash is considered best to use in the manufacturing of fly ash brick because of the lower amount of calcium is present in this type.
Composition of Fly Ash Bricks
Companies are manufacturing fly ash bricks with different compositions, but the main ingredients are 50 % fly ash, 8 - 10% of stone dust, gypsum, and cement.
Composition Type 1:fly ash, sand, sludge lime, and gypsum.Composition Type 2: fly ash, sand, hydrated lime, and gypsum.
Composition Type 3: fly ash, cement, and sand or stone dust.
In all compositions, the usage of fly ash must be 50% or more than that. The composition type 3 is costly yet stronger than others.
| Fly Ash Brick or Clay Brick? The Difference | ||
| # | Fly Ash Brick | Clay Brick |
| 1 | Fly ash bricks are manufactured by mixing fly ash, sand, cement, gypsum, and lime with the help of brick making machinery in a large number of quantities per day. | Red Brick manufacture by mixing top-fertile soil and lime in hand made molds and requires more time and labor to manufacture a large number of quantities. |
| 2 | The strength of fly ash brick is up to 2000 PSI. | The strength of good quality red brick is up to 1600 PSI. |
| 3 | The compressive strength of fly ash brick is 75-100 kg/cm2. | The compressive strength of red brick is 30-35 kg/cm2. |
| 4 | Less water penetrates these bricks, making them a suitable option, especially for house construction. The water absorption ratio in fly ash brick is 6-12% that is very low. | The % ratio of water absorption in red brick is double as compared to the fly ash brick, approximately 20-25% seepage of water is possible. |
| 5 | Fly ash brick is very light in weight, almost 2.6 kg - 3 kg is the weight. Due to this, the overall dead load of a building decreases, which is one of the advantages. | The weight of red brick is 3.5kg - 4 kg, and the structural load is high of such buildings using red bricks in construction. |
| 6 | The shape of the fly ash brick is uniform, and the color is grey due to which they require less plastering during the construction of the building's grey structure. Hence a cost-effective building material. | The size of the red brick is not uniform and available in red or orange color. Therefore they require more plaster, and the overall cost of construction goes higher. |
| 7 | Fly ash bricks are eco-friendly and have good fire-resistant and sound insulation properties. | Red bricks, on the contrary, have less such properties. |
Contact Tameerkaro for House Grey Structure Construction
For economical and well-built house construction services in Pakistan, contact expert at Tameerkaro Construction Company. Since 1986, the company has a history of building jaw-dropping houses in all Pakistan cities, especially in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and other cities of Punjab. Call at 0300-0556666 or sign up to send an inquiry online.
